Spanglymum's 2014 and beyond!

Spanglymum

Spanglymum

Gold Member
Hello! I've been on Minimins for aeons (or so it seems) and my story is long and tortuous. I won't bore you with the backstory right now. But... Here I am. I had a health scare recently: stress and serious anaemia. A wake-up call to stop messing around with vlcd packs and yoyo dieting.

So my plan is:

  • Myfitnesspal - logging exercise and calories
  • Low carb (ish) but not getting obsessed (been there, done that, binged in reaction yadda yadda)
  • Exercising gently - walking, started tai chi, signed up to do Race for Life in July (did it last year) so am am am going to do the c25k programme (promise!)
  • My FitBit is on order :D

Goals?
  • Get into a rhythm/habit of exercising 30 mins 3 x a week (at least)
  • Eat fewer refined carbs
  • Get the scales moving steadily downwards
  • And feel in control, with 'real food' not vlcd packs

Feels good :)
 
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Just popping in to say hi. Glad you are feeling better - you definitely sound more upbeat.

Your plan sounds very similar to mine. I'm gradually transitioning from the vlcd and adding in more calories but avoiding the junky carbs. Using myfitnesspal to log so I'm not in denial and adding in the exercise. I'm happy that it is slow and steady from now on and enjoying experimenting with food - I'm at that salad is amazing stage! If I get 1lb a week I'll be doing well.

Hope it works for you. :)
 
Good to see you back :) - good luck with your new plans and hoping like myself we hit 70kg this year x

PS: How do I subscribe to your thread?
 
I think you just reply to the thread, Carrie, and then it should automatically get added to your "subscribed threads" list.

Well, I've tried to persuade myself that going it alone is do-able but I just keep gaining and I can't seem to sort myself out at all. In a fit of near-desperation I contacted my old LL counsellor to ask how the programme works these days. Turns out you can pay for the counselling sessions and then buy packs separately. So... I'm going along on Wednesday. I just can't get back to where I want to be. I seem to spend all my energy getting angry with myself and then wanting to comfort eat in rebellion.

There is always something, isn't there? I've got hubby's (40th - what a spring chicken!) birthday coming up, and then various work events and so on... but I can't get my head around accepting the size I now am, or the length of time it would take me to get to grips with the gain "sensibly".

So enough's enough and time to ask for support! Just hope I can stick to it and not mess about. I'm not sure if I'll be doing 5:2 or total but will discuss with the LLC and see what I think would work best.

Just feel like such a big fat failure :(
 
Hi spangly...I'm under a new name now but was phoenyx....remember me? I needed a fresh start!

I had the same problems too, lost, got to goal, regained, flitted from diet to diet etc. Did slim & save before Christmas, lost a stone and a half, put it back on and more.

I'm currently doing 5:2 (or 4:3) and trying to retrain myself to eat normally. It's not easy, but the fasting takes some of the pressure off dieting as on the diet days there are no decisions to be made. Will it last? I don't know. We'll see.

But whatever you do, counselling is a great idea and remember it is a journey. Life is too short to beat yourself up over mistakes. Just reflect and move on.

Lots of moral support heading your way :) :) :)
 
Sometimes those 'fits of near desperation' are what take us to where we want to be. Never a failure just need to go with what works at the time. You have definitely worked well with the accountability in the past. I'm really struggling with whether where I am now is enough. I can't quite accept it but I think I would take consistency at this weight with peace of mind compared to the ups and downs and being hard on myself but it's a really tough call and it still requires vigilance.

Good luck with it and hope it works for you.
 
Phoenyx, Hi! Yes, I remember you! good to 'see' you. Clinquant, you sound (as always) very sensible. But I know the battle between 'manageable and sensible weight' versus 'I've bloomin got this far so am not going to stop now' is a difficult one. I went for goal and did actually manage it for quite some time, so it IS doable. Just all about nipping gains in the bud I think... Which I didn't do this past year. Ugh. Oh well. Perhaps if I join this group I won't have another overweight Christmas? I got my medical notes through from my GP today. I don't know if any of you will remember but I've had joint pain since 2005 and nothing has ever showed up on blood tests (apart from very weak markers for rheumatoid arthritis). Having read the notes cover to cover I now feel a bit chastened. They have tried. They can't find anything. It might be inconvenient but it's not life-threatening. I need to just get over it!

P.S. Dietninja , I love your name, partly (I must admit) because I love the game 'clumsy Ninja'.
 
Really lovely to go back to the group this evening and feel understood. I'm going to do 5:2 for a couple of weeks (until after my husband's birthday) and then am planning to do Total as I know it works for me with the weekly accountability. I was worried beforehand about going back and feeling like a failure. But I don't. I feel like I'm choosing to do something good and positive, for me. Ah... Calm!! :)
 
That's great news! What do lighter life recommend for your eating days? Do they put on a calorie limit?
 
No - we just had a group conversation about what we think constitutes "eating sensibly" ie for the five days.

I feel strangely calm. I've not decided which days will be my fast days yet. Tomorrow might be one of them. This chimes so well with what I'd already been doing: eating more mindfully and healthfully and doing more exercise (even if small amounts). The idea is to go to a few groups to get my head in a better place before starting abstinence again. I'm definitely going to do abstinence as I know it works for me. I've learned so much this past few years - but could do with a rest from beating myself up all the time. This feels like it will be that break.

Just done a weight chart for the weeks ahead and it was a little sobering to realise I can only *just* get close to my goal by my holiday in August. Crikey. I didn't realise things were quite so bad. On a plus note though, I've (a) not gone back to my original pre-LL weight from 2010, and (b) I've managed to only gain a couple of pounds since finishing my brief Cambridge stint in February. So I must be doing something that works.

I do want to get back to being a size 12 again, and not feel so huffy and puffy and OLD!
 
I'm doing 5:2 and I love it. It's a real break from rules for me because I'm so used to low carbing / counting etc. (I'm still calorie counting but weaning myself off slowly). I fast Sundays and Thursdays (although I did tues this week) and have a treat day Fri.

Good luck ;)

Shame weight gain is so easy!
 
Well... it's day 6 of 7 and I'm finally having one of my two "fast" days lol. Go figure :rolleyes:. I had some kind of major denial/rebellion thing going on at the start of the week since the group. The group session itself was fab, but then when it came to actually changing my behaviour in any way...? Oh well! Still focusing on moving more and eating more mindfully more often and not being too black and white and not being too hard on myself.

So today it's four packs, black tea and coffee, and water. And tomorrow the same - then group. And then next week I need to think about when my "fast" days will be. I'm mainly positive about this, but then sometimes get overwhelmed by thoughts of "oh no not again", and "how could I have let it get so bad - again?" etc, which I know aren't helpful. I do think it's positive that I can see these as thoughts though and can start to choose how I respond emotionally...
 
Actually, does tea and coffee have to be black on your fast days?
 
Depends on how you want to use your cals. I dont think its banned. I have it black but by choice.
 
I read somewhere that most diets are easy to contemplate but hard to put into action when you knuckle down to it, whereas fastings the opposite - hard to contemplate but when you finally do it its fine. I've definite found that to be true!
 
Are you completely fasting on your fast days, dietninja? Or using vlcd packs?
 
Usually I fast completely til 6pm then have 500 cal meal. But last fast day I did 3 slim & save packs, soup & bar at 6pm, hot choc at 9 pm. Prefer food, to be honest, but I have a lot of packs to use up...
 
I've got quite a few packs left over too - so have been toying with the idea of doing 4:3 instead of Total in a few weeks' time, as I could buy two days of packs from LL each week and gradually use up slim and save packs for the third day.

It's been a bit of an eye opener, yesterday and today, being on packs but knowing it isn't "final". There was something great about doing Lighter Life the first time round and having the certainty that goes along with the whole "eat the packs, watch the weight come off" regime, but the second or third or fourth attempt it didn't seem to work that way for me. Being back on abstinence was a cue for all kinds of anxieties and then rebellion. I may still choose to do Total after my husband's birthday, or I might do 5:2 or I might do 4:3. I just need to keep moving towards my goal of being more comfortable and feeling well. What I don't want to do is carry on the yo-yo cycle, which is exhausting and very unhealthy.
 
First weigh in and I'm 0.4lb up. I'm not trying to lose weight at the moment, just get back into being more mindful, but it was still a bit disappointing after a two day fast. Well, if I'm honest, almost a two day fast. I cracked yesterday. What's more, I know exactly why...

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